Patrice Chéreau's Son frère | His Brother (2003)

Based on Philppe Besson's novel of the same name (although partly set in Brittany as opposed to Ìle de Ré), Patrice Chéreau's Son frère is a bleak (but positive) psychological portrait of two brothers. Thomas (Bruno Todeschini), visits his gay brother Luc (Eric Caravaca) after the two have not communicated for some time, and Thomas reveals that he has a rare blood disorder and asked Luc to accompany him to hospital.

There follows a coming together of the brothers held apart for so long, an understanding and blossoming love for each other. Thomas, after trying cortisone and a splenectomy, is told that he could haemorrhage at any time in the future (if at all), but he is incapable of taking it, and his partner Claire (Nathalie Bouttefeu) has left him as Luc now takes over with his concern for his brother.

This is in effect the story of two estranged brothers and how they come to resolve their differences, of how they come to love each other, although in the end Thomas can't accept what's happening to him and walks out into the sea in Brittany to die.